Does the U.S. deficit matter?

10/27/20 • 45 min

2 Listeners

Who pays for it? It’s a question you hear all the time, especially when we’re talking about trillions of dollars in government spending.

And with the U.S. government operating at a $3.1 trillion deficit in 2020, it’s an especially relevant question. But more and more, economists are beginning to wonder if it’s worth asking. Since the U.S. issues its own currency, does it need to bother thinking about who foots the bill?

That’s what we’re exploring today on the show with Stephanie Kelton, professor, economist, author of The Deficit Myth, and face of the modern monetary theory movement.

You might not agree with what Stephanie has to say...but she’ll certainly give you some food for thought. Listen now.

Who pays for it? It’s a question you hear all the time, especially when we’re talking about trillions of dollars in government spending.

That’s what we’re exploring today on the show with Stephanie Kelton, professor, economist, author of The Deficit Myth, and face of the modern monetary theory movement.

You might not agree with what Stephanie has to say...but she’ll certainly give you some food for thought. Listen now.

Previous Episode

Can campaign finance reform solve D.C.’s corruption problem?

We know there’s an ungodly amount of money tied up in politics, much of it collected in the campaign finance stage. What we often don’t know is where it comes from and what its aims are.

What if we could shift the way we interpret and regulate campaign spending? That kind of shift might just root out deep-seated corruption in our electoral process...according, at least, to today’s guest: Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law professor who ran for president in 2016 on a campaign finance reform platform.

You don’t want to miss this one. You might not agree with Lessig’s unorthodox ideas of campaign finance reform...but I guarantee his views will make you think differently.

Next Episode

The deficit matters...but just not right now

Rethinking the entire economic paradigm of any country would be almost impossibly difficult. Try to do it in the midst of a dual recession and pandemic, and you’re facing unbeatable odds.

But the truth of the matter is that we’re inching closer to thinking the deficit actually doesn’t matter each day here in the U.S., especially after Congress passed enormous stimulus to keep Americans afloat with alarmingly few chirps of “who pays for it.”

Last episode, we learned about the effort to debunk the deficit myth. This time around, we’re talking about how realistic or unrealistic that mindset shift really is with Kai Ryssdal, famed radio journalist and host of Marketplace and Make Me Smart.

Listen if you want an honest conversation about inflation, a jobs guarantee, monetary vs. fiscal policy, wealth inequality...and how only some economic indicators matter in a year as unprecedented as this one.